dhex wrote:i fell into a business carry on luggage review k-hole like two hours ago and i still have no idea what to buy, just that it'll cost more money than i think it will.

You going garment type with jacket in or not? Garment bags are very limited for other types of stuff, especially once they are carry on sized. Note: if you are doing regional air travel, your flights will often be on planes that can't have a carry-on of any size. That is, you are going to be doing plane side check in.

That means that your stuff for the plane itself will be in your personal item such as backpack or briefcase. These factors all play together.

For example, I strongly prefer to wear my jacket, so my carry-on is non garment type. I focus on quality of construction in terms of nylon, wheels, and handle. Hard side cases are significantly less flexible (hur hur, but seriously) and I would avoid them. You take that trip and your dirty clothes are now not space efficient and dammit you could use some flex in the bag to make it all work for the return leg. Four wheel rolly is better than two wheel rolly for reasons that are only apparent if you've noticed other people doing four wheels in tight spaces while you basically try to shove a vacuum cleaner around in the same tight area plus they stay upright better.

dhex wrote:i fell into a business carry on luggage review k-hole like two hours ago and i still have no idea what to buy, just that it'll cost more money than i think it will.

You going garment type with jacket in or not? Garment bags are very limited for other types of stuff, especially once they are carry on sized. Note: if you are doing regional air travel, your flights will often be on planes that can't have a carry-on of any size. That is, you are going to be doing plane side check in.

That means that your stuff for the plane itself will be in your personal item such as backpack or briefcase. These factors all play together.

For example, I strongly prefer to wear my jacket, so my carry-on is non garment type. I focus on quality of construction in terms of nylon, wheels, and handle. Hard side cases are significantly less flexible (hur hur, but seriously) and I would avoid them. You take that trip and your dirty clothes are now not space efficient and dammit you could use some flex in the bag to make it all work for the return leg. Four wheel rolly is better than two wheel rolly for reasons that are only apparent if you've noticed other people doing four wheels in tight spaces while you basically try to shove a vacuum cleaner around in the same tight area plus they stay upright better.

I second the 4 wheel rolly advice. Much better than the 2. We've had good luck with Samsonite 4 wheel rollies. We have a big one and a medium one and they've held up (10-12 years now?) really well.

Yeah but how can you tell at a glance which junk a raccoon is packing? Also, gay raccoons? - Hugh Akston
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tr0g wrote:Went down to the new tony shopping area that just opened. They have a John Lobb store, which I vaguely recalled as being similar to Church's, so I went in. Those are some pretty shoes, but for $1750 a pair they'd goddamn well better be.

Such a bargain. I assume you bought two pairs.

We live in the fucked age. Get used to it. - dhex

holy shit there will never be an end until the sweet release of death (as dictated by the death panels, natch) - lunch

dhex wrote:i fell into a business carry on luggage review k-hole like two hours ago and i still have no idea what to buy, just that it'll cost more money than i think it will.

You going garment type with jacket in or not? Garment bags are very limited for other types of stuff, especially once they are carry on sized. Note: if you are doing regional air travel, your flights will often be on planes that can't have a carry-on of any size. That is, you are going to be doing plane side check in.

That means that your stuff for the plane itself will be in your personal item such as backpack or briefcase. These factors all play together.

For example, I strongly prefer to wear my jacket, so my carry-on is non garment type. I focus on quality of construction in terms of nylon, wheels, and handle. Hard side cases are significantly less flexible (hur hur, but seriously) and I would avoid them. You take that trip and your dirty clothes are now not space efficient and dammit you could use some flex in the bag to make it all work for the return leg. Four wheel rolly is better than two wheel rolly for reasons that are only apparent if you've noticed other people doing four wheels in tight spaces while you basically try to shove a vacuum cleaner around in the same tight area plus they stay upright better.

I have a briefcase for laptop, charger and phone charger, and related papers/book for plane or whatever. i figure i have 3.5 hours ish to kill up in the air so i may as well read a book again.

for the monthly travel I'm planning on 3-5 days at a stretch, and planning on wearing 1 suit, packing 1 suit, and a sport coat with 2 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, etc. I think this is doable. right now i'm looking at:

but open to other options. other folk do suits by folding and then packing in large duffle style bags like the air boss, or they get dedicated garment carriers.

though i'm concerned about suit space, etc, i think the whole packing board thing for shirts seems to work really well. what i'm mostly concerned about is built in suiter bags fitting a 50L jacket regularly.

I like the looks of the Briggs and Riley (but i'd go 4 wheels). Great reputation. Lower price than Tumi.

The well established quality at value pick is Travelpro. The only one you should buy under $300 or so.

I like this bag a lot:

ETA: You are going to wear a suit, pack a suit with a separate jacket and pack a third sport coat? You will have shoes in there somewhere I guess? I don't think you can do this at your volume of jacket. I'd try very hard to get down to one suit jacket if you can.

JasonL wrote:I like the looks of the Briggs and Riley (but i'd go 4 wheels). Great reputation. Lower price than Tumi.

The well established quality at value pick is Travelpro. The only one you should buy under $300 or so.

I like this bag a lot:

ETA: You are going to wear a suit, pack a suit with a separate jacket and pack a third sport coat? You will have shoes in there somewhere I guess? I don't think you can do this at your volume of jacket. I'd try very hard to get down to one suit jacket if you can.

plan is to wear shoes on the plane for the entire week (brown monks go with basically everything, this is not a very well-dressed industry in general).

My big wonder is whether i'm just wasting my time with the suiter components entirely instead of getting gentle suit folding down and hoping whatever extended stay they stick me in has some kind of dry cleaning deal in the immediate vicinity.

I'll be honest. I've never been able to effectively use separated suiter / shirt compartments and prefer the flexibility of packing the main body the right way. I do shirts on wire hangers in dry cleaner plastic bags folded arms crossed and then in 1/3s to fit in the main compartment. The hanger has the effect of keeping the shirt rigid enough in that configuration.

I always have a pair of casual shoes like slip on driver mocs and jeans, and sometimes a pair of workout shoes. The third pair of shoes is the bane of my packing life. I've more recently been doing wear the workout shoes with jeans and the suit jacket/sport coat on the plane and don't pack casual shoes. In that mode I use more casual looking browns that I can also wear with jeans if dinner is casual which it usually is. Yeah. That guy in the airport. Limited packing space makes tools of us all.

Warren wrote:I would absolutely not get one with four wheels on casters that stick out like that.

You are under appreciating the convenience of 4 wheels and overestimating the resilience/ usefulness of the bumper stand you get with most two wheeled designs. That thing collapses and or breaks off regularly and at least half the time your bag won't stand upright on its own.

First, if you plan on having a rental car and you're in any sort of reasonably populated area, you can always find someplace that can press a suit with, at worst, next day service. I suspect you are thinking you won't have to drive, though. I also suspect you may find that being effectively impassioned in your guest accommodations when you're not at the work site gets real old real fast.

Second, for that period of time and given your size, I'd go with a garment bag even if it meant checking it. However, some planes do have a compartment for garment bags, albeit with some restrictions. Being a frequent flyer, member of their silly clubs will help here. If you do check it, though, you obviously want to take a direct flight. There's still some chance they'll lose it, but the odds go way up if the bag has to be transferred from one plane to another.

Third, given your suit size, I just don't see how a typical carry-on roller will work. However, well constructed garment bag will fit all of the clothes you expect to pack and more. Specifically, there will be room for a second pair of shoes. If you've 'invested' in good quality shoes, they'll last far longer if you don't wear them every day, for the obvious reason that you're not wearing them every day but also, importantly, because you're giving the leather a chance to 'breathe.' Also, these bags fold over to work more or less like the carry-ons; that is, with wheels and a collapsing handle. For example. Not recommending that particular piece, just showing the sort of thing you might consider.

Air travel sucks, business air travel sucks even more (and did way back before the TSA nonsense, too), and no one really expects someone flying coach to be able to dress out as well as someone checking enough luggage to stay a month. Oh, since I recall Louisiana or somewhere in the deep South being your likely commute, there are really very lightweight wool suits (or jackets and slacks) available and wool is great because it doesn't wrinkle as badly as other fabrics, but cotton/poly suits are the only thing I can imagine being able to wear outdoors for more than five minutes at a time in such a climate.

I find those garment bags difficult to pack for all non hanger related stuffs and in particular on the return flight with dirty clothes. That said, I'm never trying to do two jackets so it might be the best way bet of all that.

JasonL wrote:I find those garment bags difficult to pack for all non hanger related stuffs and in particular on the return flight with dirty clothes. That said, I'm never trying to do two jackets so it might be the best way bet of all that.

I agree they have their downside. But traveling across the country to an event where one is expected to wear a dinner jacket, for example, would be all but impossible otherwise. I deal with dirty laundry the same regardless; toss into a disposable garbage bag and compress (flatly if necessary) as much as possible.

JasonL wrote:I find those garment bags difficult to pack for all non hanger related stuffs and in particular on the return flight with dirty clothes. That said, I'm never trying to do two jackets so it might be the best way bet of all that.

I agree they have their downside. But traveling across the country to an event where one is expected to wear a dinner jacket, for example, would be all but impossible otherwise. I deal with dirty laundry the same regardless; toss into a disposable garbage bag and compress (flatly if necessary) as much as possible.

I prefer the rolling bags with the suit compartment because getting a piece of luggage for those rare occasions when you need to travel with a dinner jacket is way more expensive than just getting it pressed at the destination every time.

his voice is so soothing, but why do conspiracy nuts always sound like Batman and Robin solving one of Riddler's puzzles out loud? - fod

JasonL wrote:I find those garment bags difficult to pack for all non hanger related stuffs and in particular on the return flight with dirty clothes. That said, I'm never trying to do two jackets so it might be the best way bet of all that.

I agree they have their downside. But traveling across the country to an event where one is expected to wear a dinner jacket, for example, would be all but impossible otherwise. I deal with dirty laundry the same regardless; toss into a disposable garbage bag and compress (flatly if necessary) as much as possible.

I prefer the rolling bags with the suit compartment because getting a piece of luggage for those rare occasions when you need to travel with a dinner jacket is way more expensive than just getting it pressed at the destination every time.

You don't have your valet take care of those sorts of details?

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Got caught in a snowfall that turned to slush in Boston. Punchline is my good brown shoes now have watermarks in the leather - a bit of stain but also a bit of swelling near the seam. Am I basically screwed or will that polish out somehow? I can't believe getting them wet just the once would be irreparable, but neither can I find a great online solution to the swelling part.

JasonL wrote:Got caught in a snowfall that turned to slush in Boston. Punchline is my good brown shoes now have watermarks in the leather - a bit of stain but also a bit of swelling near the seam. Am I basically screwed or will that polish out somehow? I can't believe getting them wet just the once would be irreparable, but neither can I find a great online solution to the swelling part.

Take them to a good shoeshiner. He will know better than anyone if it can be saved. He may even refer to you to a cobbler.

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JasonL wrote:Got caught in a snowfall that turned to slush in Boston. Punchline is my good brown shoes now have watermarks in the leather - a bit of stain but also a bit of swelling near the seam. Am I basically screwed or will that polish out somehow? I can't believe getting them wet just the once would be irreparable, but neither can I find a great online solution to the swelling part.

Well, you can't make them unwet, but you can mitigate the damage.
Start by buffing off as much of the wax as you can get off both shoes. Use a Mr. Clean magic eraser to rub off any surface stain. Wet a sponge and then wring it out. Start on the spot, press the sponge into the leather. Keep dabbing and rewetting the sponge when needed, then work your way out from the spot adding less and less water as you go so that it gradually fades from wet to dry. Then let it fully dry out (slowly though, don't put it over a heat vent or anything like that). Then you have to restore oils to the leather. I recommend neatsfoot or mink oil, there are also some specialty products. You want to use a clean dry cloth and you want to rub it into the leather with a little elbow grease. You're going to want to do this in at least two applications a day apart. Now here's the thing, adding oil to the leather darkens the leather. That's why you're going to have to do the whole shoe and both shoes. The oil will keep dispersing through the leather over a course of days. So just let them sit for a week or so. Then have a look at them. If there are any light spots, you can rub more oil into that area. After that, just wax and polish as you normally would.

JasonL wrote:Got caught in a snowfall that turned to slush in Boston. Punchline is my good brown shoes now have watermarks in the leather - a bit of stain but also a bit of swelling near the seam. Am I basically screwed or will that polish out somehow? I can't believe getting them wet just the once would be irreparable, but neither can I find a great online solution to the swelling part.

JasonL wrote:Got caught in a snowfall that turned to slush in Boston. Punchline is my good brown shoes now have watermarks in the leather - a bit of stain but also a bit of swelling near the seam. Am I basically screwed or will that polish out somehow? I can't believe getting them wet just the once would be irreparable, but neither can I find a great online solution to the swelling part.

bring it to a cobbler asap. it's salt and stuff.

I think I'm frakked. Got them to a guy but his expression was more like "what the hell we'll try" than "I got this". Those are my Grensons!!!